I love my dog, I really do. She’s a total sweetheart. Ginger is a golden retriever and she’s 12 but you’d never know it unless you had to watch her go up the stairs at night. During the day? She has no problem bounding up and down, but by nightfall she regrets her decision to look for kleenex in every trash can in the house 10 times during the day.

Ginger is nothing if not quirky. She eats kleenex and napkins, will only shred paper towels and won’t touch toilet paper rolls. She doesn’t understand the end of Daylight Savings Time, so since October she whines from 4pm-5pm wondering why I haven’t fed her. And, when given a choice, she will sleep with her head on a pillow instead of flat on the ground.

Last week Ginger got groomed. While she was away, I washed her bed. The result? A fluffy, clean dog and a really lumpy bed. Ginger was not amused. She wasn’t happy when I laid it down for her, when I tried to smooth it out, and she wasn’t happy all. night. long.

It was like Princess and the Pea only worse because it actually happened. All night long. The poor thing couldn’t get comfortable and she let me know it by shaking. And moving. And chewing. Did I mention she did this all night long?

Today we’re both tired. She’s napping. I’m working. Lucky girl!

Since I’m tired, I want comfort food. Is there anything more comforting than chocolate chip cookies?

How about chocolate chip cookie gooey bars? Yes?

I mean, I can’t even get over these pictures you guys. See how good they look? Yeah, they taste better. These were direct to the freezer and hope I forget about them bars.

The chocolate chip cookie recipe starts with brown butter. If you’ve never browned butter, don’t worry. It’s actually easy. You can read my tutorial on how to brown butter before you start.

Really, the only thing you need to be careful of when you’re browning butter is that you don’t let it go too long because it burns easy. It’s kind of like making a pudding or thick sauce: you stir and stir and stir waiting for it to thicken and then allofasuddenitsthickhurryupturnofftheheat. Same goes with browning butter. Once it starts it’s super fast and can burn if you’re not watching it.

It might seem like a pain…but don’t skip it. Brown butter gives a richness to the cookie bars that aren’t there with just melted butter. Totally worth it.

Another reason I love this chocolate chip cookie recipe is because it has a ton of brown sugar in it. When you add the brown sugar to the melted butter it creates a toffee-like flavor that is sorely missing in non-melted butter cookies. Normally, starting with melted butter means you have to chill the cookies for hours or overnight, which is why making gooey bars is better.

Chill time? 30 minutes. Bake time? 30 minutes. Time to eat? Well, that depends on if you want a fork or a bar and if you care about burning your mouth.

These chocolate chip cookie gooey bars are even better than plain chocolate chip cookie bars because in between two layers of cookie dough you pour an entire can of sweetened condensed milk. This makes them ooey gooey in the center.

Also? Because you can never have enough chocolate, I broke up an XL Hershey bar all over the center. See those huge chunks of chocolate? Yeah, that.

I won’t judge you if you skip the Hershey Bar. But if you replace the chocolate bar with peanut butter cups or Rolos, I think I’ll respect you more. 🙂

These gooey bars are the ultimate comfort food. Really good for tired days. Or sad days. Or Sundays.

Drooling yet?

Chocolate Chip Cookie Gooey Bars

Yield:24-36 bars

My favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe made into a gooey bar. This bar cookie is off the hook amazing – gooey, chocolatey, and perfect!

1 (14 ounce) can fat-free sweetened condensed milk (you can use regular SCM if you can’t find the fat-free)

1 (4.4 ounce) large Hershey bar (or smaller bars to make that same size)

Directions:

Melt butter in a saucepan over medium heat. Cook, stirring often, about 6 minutes, until it becomes brown in color. It will foam, reduce, then foam again. Once it’s done cooking the foam is a light brown and it will dissipate after you remove it from the heat. Once it starts to brown, keep stirring so it doesn’t burn. Let sit for about 5 minutes to cool.

Pour into an electric mixer fitted with paddle attachment. While still hot, add both sugars and mix on low until combined. Let sit to cool for a few minutes.

While butter mixture is cooling, combine flour, baking soda, and salt in a medium bowl. Stir and set aside.

Turn mixer (with butter mixture bowl attached) on low. Add eggs, one at a time, mixing completely. Mix in vanilla extract. Add flour mixture to the wet ingredients and mix until combined. Stir in chocolate chips.

Line a 9×13” baking pan with foil and spray with cooking spray for easy removal.

Press half the cookie dough in the prepared pan. Pour sweetened condensed milk over the top of the bottom layer (be careful to leave about 1/4” edge around the pan so the milk doesn’t touch the foil), then break up the chocolate bar and drop pieces over the top. Break up the remaining cookie dough and place on top of milk. Press with your hands to flatten. It will mostly cover but not completely cover the bottom layer.

Refrigerate pan for 30 minutes.

Preheat oven to 350°F. Bake for about 30-35 minutes until the tops of the bars start to get golden brown. Cool completely before slicing into bars.

101 comments on “Chocolate Chip Cookie Gooey Bars”

These look to die for; that gooey centre looks divine! Poor Ginger and her bed, at least she is now squeaky clean from her groom. I have, today, just made some cookie bars too – telepathy! However, yours look 1000 times better!

These gooey chocolate bars look amazing – I mean, seriously amazing. I can eat cookies, or cookie bars any time, but I’m always extra hungry when I’ve had a bad nights sleep. Our Golden Retriever is called Bud! We are lucky she doesn’t shred tissues, but your Ginger sounds like a real character! Where would we be without the doggies in our lives, to talk to, cuddle and keep out feet warm? So sorry you had a bad night, but very glad it caused you to make these delicious looking cookie bars. Am definitely going to bake these. Thanks for posting the recipe. Sammie 🙂

This is my dream bar!! Browned butter AND sweetened cond milk. And the chocolate. And all the layers and textures…omg. This is MY scene, right here! Gorgeous photos. The details, love the macro shots, great collage…this is a HIT 🙂

Heck yeah, straight to the freezer! I’d never be able to forget about these, though, way too amazing.
Hope your doggie is comfy again. Kids do that, too. They hate the clean beds. Sleeping in filth must be more appealing than we realize…

My stomach is growling as I am reading this post. This is the perfect recipe for a Sunday! It’s snowing in CT again, so I’m using this weather as an excuse to eat about five of these. Shoveling is considered exercise, right?!

Ginger is such a sweetie! :o)
Those bars look so yummy! (too bad I’m on no sugar for 3 weeks) Yes, I’m still reading your blog and it’s difficult! I’ll avoid looking at the pics if I can, cause your writing ropes me in every day…

OH.MY.GOSH. ohmygoshohmygosh! These cookies looks absolutely amazing!!!! Your pics are wonderful! I am sorry about the long night with Ginger. I am there with my youngest right now and it can make for a really long day 🙂

If you could see me right now I am bowing down to you. These look AMAZING!!!!!! And those pictures? I die! I feel you on the lack of sleep, but mine is usually due to the fact that my two year old has decided to sleep like a newborn again. Wanna trade?

I’m pretty sure these bars are what dreams are made of. I mean, I don’t even think the freezer could hold me back, because I would probably just pop it in the microwave and have warm, melting chocolate. I die.

My dog is 11 and has decided sleeping through the night is optional. Along with some digestive issues we seem to be having every few weeks it is like having a newborn. I am tired as well as she gets to sleep whenever she wants throughout the day 🙂

Omg, this looks so amaaaaaazing. Definitely going to try this, and perhaps vary a bit with the ingredients to see if I can cut down on the calories a bit, lol. Delicious, mouth watering pictures too btw!

Was trying to decide what to taketo Bunco tonight & this recipe popped up first thing. Luckily, I had all the ingredients.
I have a pan just out of the oven right now..and NO, not too hot to stick my fork in for a little taste. It took 4 taste to be sure. LOL. I wonder if I will have enough left to take to my Bunco group tonight. They are yum-o warm. Can’t wait to try when they are cool…if there is any left to try.

Ginger sounds like a mix of my old golden retriever, my parents’ new golden, and my current chihuahua mix. Our old golden always slept on my extra pillow that I put down on the ground, our new golden tore up the cardboard “walkway” that the kitchen construction guys laid down in my parents’ house and adores paper towels, and we lovingly refer to our chihuahua as the “Princess.” She also hogs the entire bed/couch/blanket/whatever. Dogs are so funny! And these gooey bars? I’m seriously glad heart healthy week is over because I’m dying to eat that whole stack! Pinned!

I just made these and in the oven 🙂 The batter sample was delicious so I hope they are just as good cooked! One tip – definitely let the dough totally col, since I didn’t and the chocolate chips melted. This was my first time using brown butter so maybe everyone else knows this!

Your bars look so neat and beautiful! I made these bars, and added walnuts to the middle and butterscotch chips to the dough. They were delicious and gooey as promised. Maybe I just couldn’t wait and cool them long enough to get those nice lines of chocolate like you have in the photos. 🙂

Ummmmmmmm. Your pictures stopped me cold, the 8-year-old was saying, what’s the matter, mom? This is a drop-everything-make-these-now recipe. Good thing I have 4 kids to help me not eat them all. Just wondering – does the fat-free SCM change the taste or outcome? I figure, once you got all that butter and chocolate, what does a little fat in the SCM matter.

Hi Dorothy! I baked a batch of these yesterday to include in a birthday care package for my son in college and, oh man, they are good! I wanted to let you know that the “gooey-ness” makes them perfect for packing and mailing. I’m certain they will be soft, fresh, and delicious when they arrive. I kept some here for us too 🙂 Thanks so much for the delicious recipe.

I’ve been wanting to make these since you first put them up and finally did it for Thanksgiving. All healthy eating is out the door today. These are very good but so rich, everyone could only eat a little bit. FYI I used the big German chocolate bars in the purple wrappers called Milka and if I make them again I’m adding pecans because I think it needs them. Mine did not slice as pretty as yours. Next I’d like to try your brownie bars. Thanks for all the good recipes.

Do you have to use an electric mixer with a paddle? I just have a hand mixer. Also, I would be making it in a pizza pan with parchment paper and then removing it. Do you think it would hold together or woulr it look pretty gooey and fall apart from all the moisture?

A hand mixer will work just fine, so that’s not a problem. I’m not sure how a pizza pan would work though, it rises a bit and I’d hate for it to spill over the edges. Maybe use a 9″ round pan instead? There’s a lot of dough for this so you might even need 2 of them.

can you leave in the refrigerator over night ?? I made these twice now and they are amazing ! bringing them to work tomorrow but would like to bake them in the morning rather than right now. Let me know !!!!

Tasty but the dough was a little dry. 3 1/4 cups of flour might’ve been too much. Thanks for the description for browning butter, though! It was my first time and it turned out wonderfully. Will be trying again but with a little less flour.

Hello from a fan in Germany! I choose carefully how to use my chocolate chips brought back from home, and this recipe was worth it. I followed the recipe exactly, in spite of the comments about it having too much flour, and they were just as the name says: gooey! They are rich and decadent. I never usually post a comment anywhere, but I always rely on reader comments before trying a recipe and and I am often frustrated when readers post about how a recipe looks instead of how it actually tastes. Therefore, given the comments about this recipe turning out dry (which almost deterred me from making it), I thought I would voice my opinion that this recipe, when the directions are followed, turns out exactly as described. Thank you!

These were realllllllly good, but my cookie dough was dry and crumbly. I double checked the ingredients. Maybe, I had a little too much flour. I also forgot to refrigerate them for 30 minutes before cooking. Guess I’ll just have to try them again! Lol!